Where in the World Have You Seen a SolidWorks World Bag?

Each year, SolidWorks fans from across the globe convene in one place, for one event – SolidWorks World. In addition to the networking and learning about interesting things their peers are doing with the software, attendees look forward to the swag (stuff we all get), usually a new SolidWorks backpack. People write into SolidWorks forums asking whether they will be getting a new bag; attendees share photos on their blogs; and the Twitter feeds are full of comments about the bags floating around the event’s host city. While the SolidWorks bag might look a little different each year, it has become a recognizable symbol of SolidWorks users. It’s a way for SolidWorks users to spot each other on their way home from and long after the annual event.

Like Flat Stanley or the Travelocity “roaming gnome” who has been spotted in Hawaii, on the slopes of Banff-Lake Louise, and checking out the view of Times Square, the SolidWorks World backpacks have also made their way around the world. Recently we learned about one of the more interesting places the backpacks have appeared.

Bruce Crawford, editor of Castings SA and Metalworking News, has attended SolidWorks World for the last four years, and faithfully brings home his bag every year. Rather than replacing last year’s model with the new one, Bruce has a greater plan for his SolidWorks World bags – his annual trip to Kruger National Park in South Africa with his family and friends!

Kruger National Park is a famous park in South Africa that boasts the “most diverse game viewing experience in Africa.” Each year, Bruce and his crew travel through the park on a three night, two day excursion, with a tracker and ranger leading to way. The SolidWorks World bags are used as day packs to carry water and snacks as the group travels 5-6 hours per day by foot to see the animals in their natural habitat.

When we spoke to Bruce, he told us about one of the more interesting sights on their journey, "We were about a kilometre away from the end of the first morning's walk and came across this 4 metre African python that was in the process of devouring a buck. We must have missed the action by about an hour. Not many people are in the right spot at the right time, especially on foot."

Like Flat Stanley the roaming gnome, the SolidWorks World bags have been to the far ends of the earth. Has your SolidWorks World bag been on a family trip to Italy and walked over the Ponte Vecchio? Or seen the depths of the Grand Canyon?

We’d love to hear where your bag has gone, so please leave a comment below and share your amazing journey! Or send pictures to pr@solidworks.com and we'll aggregate them in a future post.